He wants his first foray into elective politics to be the United States Senate, known hereinafter as the House of Princes, a chamber reputed to offer lifetime employment and emoluments to those sent there once, even though most Princes never achieve anything.
In some recent posts here, reporting on campaign appearances by Prince Michael, I have detected some sense of respect for him that goes beyond the normal respect that might be accorded to any random person lurking about in denim pants, given that we are all born equal. I have read suggestions that it was to his credit that our latest (though not by much) princling was willing to take time out of his busy, busy schedule as "one of the most powerful" people in the [country] [world] [universe] [history of mankind] to answer questions of humble voters in out-of-the-way corners of the Square State.
Good morning, and please read carefully. Welcome to Saturday Morning Garden Blogging.
Denver made it through the month of June without a single day in the 90s; on Wednesday, July 1, the high was 92°. And Wednesday evening cooler air blasted in, bringing overnight rain showers and a high of only 79° on Thursday - and lovely sleeping weather.
Warmth returned yesterday - just in time for the long weekend, although we also have forecasts for natural fireworks, with thunderstorms predicted each day. I do love the thunderstorms, as long as they don't bring hail.
On Wednesday a swallowtail butterfly came to visit the giant catmint in the front yard, and stayed around posing for a while. Let me know which shot you like best.
Happy Friday and welcome to the 10th in the Dog's First Amendment Friday series. This series is following the syllabus for the class called The First Amendment and taught at Yale Law School by Professor Jack M. Balkin. As with the Friday Constitutional series this is a layman's look at the Law, specifically the Supreme Court opinions which have shaped the boundaries of our 1st Amendment Protections. If you are interested in the previous installments you can find them at the links below:
I believe in equality for all. I defend a woman's right to make decisions about her own body. I fight for a child's right to be protected, educated, nurtured and loved. I fight for a man's right to be home with his children after their birth, and to take time off work for his kids to raise them, if he wants to do that. I fight for each family to form itself based on love and commitment.
...and meeting of the Colorado Chocolate Fountain Caucus.
We like having guests at Casa de Frankenoid and, although the combination of wet weather and bindweed eradication have delayed getting Our Old House prepared for guests this year, the time has come at last that we can throw open the gates and host a gathering.
Our little soirées are a chance for Denver-area (or visiting out-of-town) kossacks to connect handles to faces, trash Republicans (or governors and/or senators who act like Republicans), and generally set the world right.
Trying something new - you can listen to the first 45 minutes of the interview here. (It was a 90 minute tape but apparently that's at the slow speed and I used the high speed so it ended at 45 minutes.) Nothing major in the last 15 minutes, that was just about his trips to Argentina and staying at the Mayflower Hotel in D.C. (For the totally oblivious - just kidding.) The meeting was Governor Ritter, Evan Dryer, & me.
This was a lot different from most of my previous interviews. I figure the first one is to let an individual talk and they drive the conversation. But for the 2nd one, I came in with a bunch of questions and tried to get full answers to those questions. So here's my first effort at an interview I tried to drive.
Governor Ritter consistently answered my questions. He never avoided them nor did he try to change the subject. And an interview scheduled for ½ hour ran a bit over an hour when he had to call it quits. So being hit with a bunch of questions, he did not use the excuse of times up to cut & run. I think this is one of Ritter's most commendable features, he will talk to the points brought up and discuss them in full.
Mike Maday visited the CO congressional delegation with the Change that Works Colorado group to discuss why he thinks we need health care reform now. Watch the video above to see what kind of reception he received, and sign up here to show your support for a public option.
(I'm going on Mario's show at 4:40 today to talk about this. - promoted by johne)
The tools used to manage a campaign are rarely discussed. But it's something that piqued my interest since I started playing with mapping points for canvassing for Aaron's run for the HD3 vacancy. Since then I've been working with a couple house district campaigns to help figure out what's the best way to go to meet all the various needs for the least cost. I've dug into a number of the different available packages out there, and nothing really seems perfect. The requirements for state house or senate race are quite different compared to a congressional campaign or for a presidential run. Mainly that comes down to money. The max donation for a state leg. races is $400. These aren't campaigns that can afford expensive software no matter how good it is.
The most basic stuff seems to have a database for volunteer management, the capability to send bulk emails, and some sort of website integration. One package in that category is called DLCCweb offered by Wired for Change. It's meant to do the very basic stuff for a very low price. For people who don't know html from a hole in the ground, I suppose it's an okay option, but I found what it allowed you to do in terms of customization of a candidate website was very lacking. In trying to set up some of it's functionality I also found the documentation confusing and contradictory. They do offer integration with donations through ActBlue, but only for the restricted web site. And, there's no capability to automate campaign finance filing.
President Obama's principles for health care reform are choice, reduced cost and affordable health care for all. The people of this country want a better health care system that includes these principles. But that is not enough. In order to achieve reform, the new system must evolve from the old. Mandating universal coverage through a public plan will require a complex and costly transition. Conversely, a new system that is built on the President's principles and evolves from the present one will be simpler and more affordable and thus be welcomed by the American people.
Two articles from the ProgressNow Daily News Digest caught my eye this morning. The first is about additional clean energy development in Colorado. The other puts violent speech from a Con politician on display.
I'll start with the clean energy story: potential development in the San Luis Valley that is being looked at by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar as part of an effort to build solar power infrastructure on public space in six Western states. Unlike Rep. John Salazar, who would rather condemn the planet to thousands of years of harsh climate than stand up to oil and gas corporations, Sec. Salazar's Interior Dept. obviously understands the dangers involved. And while Sec. Salazar might have a level of political cover that Rep. Salazar doesn't enjoy, one need only look at Rep. Markey's principled vote and courageous stand against Colorado's most extreme politicians to understand that that political cover isn't necessary to act.
Some details:
Salazar said he has signed an order setting aside more than 1,000 square miles of public land for two years of study and environmental reviews to determine where solar power stations should be built.
Parcels include 10,000 acres that sit on the east side of U.S. 285 between Antonito and the state line and just under 6,000 acres west of Romeo. A fourth parcel covers 4,000 acres northeast of the intersection of U.S. 160 and Colorado 150.
Salazar vowed to have 13 ''commercial-scale'' solar projects under construction by the end of 2010 on lands that have what he called excellent solar energy potential and limited conflicts with wildlife, other natural resources and land users. He set a goal for the projects to produce a total of 100,000 megawatts of solar electricity.
Folks have been asking, with good reason, just why it is the big insurance companies are so weak in the knees about a public option health care plan. After all, these are generally the same folks who say they the Government can not run any thing well, that always complain Government costs more than the private sector (all evidence from the Iraq war to the contrary aside) so what should they fear? Well, Health Care For America Now (HCAN) has compiled a new report which sheds some serious light on this.
America's eco-mayors ...
Mayor John Hickenlooper's Greenprint Denver plan, launched in 2006, was designed to position Denver as one of the most sustainable cities in the country. Three years later, it's on the right track. During that time, 70,000 trees have been planted in the Mile High City. Meanwhile, low-flow toilets were installed in City Hall, and the city's entire fleet was traded in for biodiesel vehicles.
Their list of eco-friendly big city mayors includes those of Atlanta, Chicago, and New York. Not a group of environments that ring Green to me, but I think Hick is well worth inclusion. Having planted a number of those trees myself, I can vouch for the fact that the city has been a great partner in sustainability.
The last time Indiana missed its deadline for passing a budget and had to shut down the government was during the Civil War.
Indiana is one of five states -- along with Arizona, California, Mississippi and Pennsylvania -- bracing for possible shutdowns this week as time runs out for lawmakers to close billion-dollar gaps in their fiscal 2010 budgets.
Of the 46 states whose fiscal year ends today, 32 did not have budgets passed and approved by their governors as of Monday afternoon, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
As of Sunday (June 28), governors had not signed, or lawmakers still had not approved, spending plans in Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon and Pennsylvania. The Kentucky, New Jersey, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Wisconsin legislatures approved budgets in recent days and are awaiting action by the governors.
What more has our perverted tax policy achieved around the country?
Colorado lawmakers, for example, found out June 22 that sales tax revenue fell far below projections, leaving them with a $384 million shortfall in the budget year that starts Wednesday. "It will mean making even more difficult choices," Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter (D) said in a statement.
An email from Rep. Markey displays the courage and thoughtful reasoning that so many of us want from our employees in Washington, D.C. As expected, Cons like Dick Wadhams are trying to use Markey's vote for H.R. 2454 (the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009) against her in the lead-up to the 2010 election.
Rep. Markey responds with the necessary conviction that a Democrat in a recently switched Congressional District must possess (emphasis mine):
Happy Monday and welcome to the Dog's torture accountability letter writing campaign. The basic premise of this series is that every Monday the Dog will write a letter to decision makers on urging action on accountability for the State Sponsored Torture program of the Bush Administration and provide the links so you the reader can cut and paste the letter or use it as the jumping off point for your own. The important thing is to keep the heat on the people who can move this issue forward by keeping their in boxes full. This week we will be writing the President with carbon copies to the AG, Speaker of the House, Majority Leader of the Senate and Chairs of the Judiciary Committees.
Six months on the campaign trail have sharpened Senator Michael Bennet's speaking skills. Although raised inside the Washington Beltway, it took him a while to project the thoughtful grasp of policy displayed at today's Arapahoe Young Democrat's picnic. With a relaxed earnestness, he navigated a probing set of questions on health care from a gathering that made it clear that he had not yet proven himself to them.
Addressing a series of doctors, citizen health advocates, and others with more gray than 'Young Dems' expect to turn out, the freshman legislator won many over with answers that were direct, progressive, hopeful, and soberingly pragmatic.
(as I try not to kill my "planned community" mandated, water-wasting, nosy-neighbor-necessitated non-native lawn - promoted by Zappatero)
Good morning, and you never know what you might find in the garden. Welcome to Saturday Morning Garden Blogging.
Here in Denver, if it's not one thing, it's another. We did leave behind the abnormal cloud-covered, cool temperatures of early June... and moved straight into an early arrival of our typical summer monsoon pattern. We've had thunderstorms every afternoon, with some major rain dumps: on Tuesday the official measurement was 1.64". But what makes this a "typical" pattern, unlike earlier in the month, is that now we are getting sun before and after the rain.
And even though we are getting sun, it's still cooler than usual. We've yet to get top 90° this June (we had one 90° day in mid-May). And our precipitation is very high: we'll likely break the record for June; just .1" to go, with more storms predicted.
Rep. Polis spoke to the Advocate about how to view a less than perfect Democratic Party, and his plans concerning another type of party.
Do you plan to attend the DNC fund-raiser Thursday? Of course, I'm a Democrat and a proud Democrat. Our party's not perfect, but certainly I will help the Democrats however I can. I did an event for Democrats for education reform Monday, and if you figure our party has a ways to go on LGBT equality, we have even further to go on education reform where President Obama has been a great leader, but those are battles we fight every day.
What do you think of those who are boycotting the fund-raiser in order to express some real discontent with the Democratic Party for what many feel is lack of movement on LGBT issues? First of all, there's a huge difference between Democrats and the Republican Party on equality issues, even when something very noncontroversial like hate-crimes legislation came up to Congress, we only had a handful of Republicans who joined with an overwhelming majority of Democrats to pass that bill [in the House]. So there's a huge difference between the parties, and there's a huge difference with Obama as president with a number of these smaller announcements.
What a lot of the community is frustrated about -- and I share this frustration -- is the brief that defended [the Defense of Marriage Act]. President Obama ran on a platform of repealing DOMA in its entirety and certainly we can take him at his word on that. But filing a brief to defend it and using some of the citations that they did was rightfully offensive to our community and that's why many donors have chosen to withhold their donations until they feel more comfortable with the Democratic Party.
Good morning, and please read carefully. Welcome to Saturday Morning Garden Blogging.
Good morning, and you never know what you might find in the garden. Welcome to Saturday Morning Garden Blogging.
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